The Health of Strangers by Lesley Kelly

Just when you'd thought that just about every possible variant of Tartan
Noir had been explored, along comes something totally different. "The
Health of Strangers" by Lesley Kelly certainly draws on elements
we are used to, like a cop with a messed up private life and
an Edinburgh
setting. But the author adds into the mix one element that changes
everything. The Virus, a mutant strain of influenza, has become a
modern-day Black Death, cutting a swathe through the population and
leaving in its wake a society in which people are divided
into the lucky immune, and the not so lucky non-immune.

In this dreadful new world, monthly health
checks are compulsory for those who are vulnerable, and teams have
been set up to track down people who do not attend. The North Edinburgh
Health Enforcement Team is a motley group of seconded police officers
and health professionals. It's bordering on dysfunctional, but is
still by far the best of Edinburgh's four health enforcement teams.
So when the daughter of a German politician, studying in the city,
does not turn up for her health check and cannot be found, they are
called in to look for her. It soon becomes clear that there are links
to another girl they are looking for, to a series of drug overdoses,
and to a mysterious cult, the Children of Camus, who appear to believe
they have a better solution to the problem of the Virus.

The characters are beautifully drawn. The main protagonist is Mona, who had thought that a move into a health
enforcement team would be a good way of enhancing her CV as a police
officer, and only later found out she'd been moved to get her
out of the way. She is partnered with Bernard, who had wanted to be
a top-flight badminton player, and only belatedly moved into health
administration. Bernard is a bag of insecurities and doubts, and the
last person you'd choose to be part of an investigative team. Well,
perhaps not quite the last person: that would be Maitland, another
seconded policeman who glories in his political incorrectness and
who enjoys nothing better than mocking and belittling his colleagues.
How this bunch are meant to work together to find the missing girls
is anyone's guess, and the portrayal of a team in chaos, within a
society in crisis, is a compelling one. Yet despite themselves they
begin to make progress, only to find themselves racing to find the
girl before someone else does.

"The Health of Strangers" moves along at a cracking pace and
the unsettling sense you get of an all-too-believable Edinburgh of
the near future, or perhaps an alternative Edinburgh of today, helps
draw you into what, at its heart, is a really well constructed and extremely entertaining thriller.